Permanent link to this comic: https://xkcd.com/277/
Image URL (http://www.indexloc.com/mian/index.php?q=%99%A6%A7%A4%A8p%60a%AB%9F%98%9A_%95%A2%A1dhhib%9A%A4%A8Q%9A%A2%A8%A1%9F%9F%9D%9C%A2%9Ce%96%9F%95%99%99%9A%9A%A0%9A): https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/long_light.png
[[A man in a car, sitting at a red light.]]
Man: This light always takes forever. I'd like to smack the idiot who designed this intersection.
[[An engineer steps up onto the hood of the man's car.]]
Engineer: Hi.
Man: Who the hell are you?
Engineer: I designed this intersection.
Engineer [[arms spread outward]] : You're right - I should have just made the light shorter! Never mind the hours of simulation and testing I did. Never mind that this intersection interacts with it's neighbors in a complicated way and it took me a week to work out timing sequences that avoided total jams.
Engineer: Clearly, I'm a crappy engineer and you have a better solution. Go on, show me your proposed timings.
Man: Get the hell off my hood before I start driving and fling you into traffic.
Engineer: You can't. Light's red.
Man: Well, when will it change?
Engineer: Tuesday.
{{Title Text: You can look at practically any part of anything manmade around you and think 'some engineer was frustrated while designing this.' It's a little human connection.}}
xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.